New leadership for Colorado’s football team

Jon Embree was fired as Colorado’s head coach Sunday after going 4-21 in two years with the Buffaloes. His last loss came to Utah 42-35 on Friday in Boulder.

David Zalubowski/AP file photo

Jon Embree was fired as Colorado’s head coach Sunday after going 4-21 in two years with the Buffaloes. His last loss came to Utah 42-35 on Friday in Boulder.

DENVER – Jon Embree is out as head football coach at the University of Colorado after just two seasons and four wins in 25 games.

Embree declined comment Sunday other than to confirm he’d been fired by athletic director Mike Bohn earlier in the day.

Embree, who had three years left on his contract, said he would speak at a news conference today.

Even coming off the worst season in the program’s 123-year history, Embree’s quick hook took his players by surprise.

“It (stinks),” quarterback Jordan Webb said after Embree met with the players at the football facilities Sunday night. “We all really liked Coach Embree a lot. And he loved us, also. Sad to see him go. We all respect him the utmost. He’s a great man.”

Bohn declined comment, but in a joint statement from school President Bruce Benson, Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano, and him, Bohn said: “We firmly believe a change in the leadership in our football program is in the best interests of the University of Colorado, particularly given our goal to compete at the highest levels of the Pac-12 Conference.”

Embree had three years remaining on the five-year contract he signed on Dec. 6, 2010, when he replaced Dan Hawkins, whose poor recruiting classes and a string of losing seasons led to his dismissal.

Embree went 4-21 in two seasons in Boulder, including 1-11 this season, the worst in the 123-year history of the program. The Buffaloes were 1-8 in the Pac-12.

The Buffaloes’ only win was a 35-34 last-second comeback at Washington State on Sept. 22, which came two weeks after an embarrassing loss to lower-tier Sacramento State at Folsom Field.

Embree had no head coaching experience when he was hired at his alma mater where he was a standout tight end during the mid-1980s. He did bring 18 years of coaching experience to the program, including a decade as an assistant with the Buffaloes.

He returned to Boulder from the Washington Redskins, where he was completing his first season as tight ends coach.

Embree’s first team went 3-10, including a 17-14 win at Utah that snapped the Buffaloes’ 24-game out-of-state losing skid. But they struggled on both sides of the ball, rotating through several quarterbacks and enduring an injury epidemic on defense for the second consecutive season.